Britain is at the centre of a “public health emergency”, experts warn today, as a powerful Lancet report declares ultra-processed foods “as dangerous as tobacco” and demands a tax, tough ad curbs and a ban on junk food in schools and hospitals.
A landmark Lancet series released today – authored by 43 global experts – says the rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is fuelling obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression and many more health problems, including early death. It calls for a dramatic shift in food policy, including taxes on junk food similar to those placed on cigarettes.
One of Britain’s best-known doctors, Professor Chris van Tulleken, food systems expert at University College London and bestselling author of Ultra-Processed People, says the evidence is now overwhelming.
The TV presenter, also a co-author of the new three-part study, added: “It is almost impossible to argue a diet based on ultra-processed foods is not dangerous, and there is a growing consensus on this.”
He says the new analysis, the biggest of its kind, has changed the scientific landscape.
“We present a new meta-analysis of over 100 population studies. These are the same type of studies that linked cigarettes and lung cancer.
“Alongside these, there are now hundreds of scientific experiments on both humans and animals showing how ultra-processed foods affect the body.
“When you combine all this evidence, the link between ultra-processed foods and 12 major diseases is undeniable, and Britain’s ultra-processed diet is now costing the NHS more than smoking.”
The powerful report has declared ultra-processed foods ‘as dangerous as tobacco’
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PA
The UK is one of the world’s highest consumers of UPFs – foods made from industrial ingredients such as processed oils, starches, protein isolates, sweeteners, fillers, emulsifiers and flavourings.
These include packaged breads, breakfast cereals, energy bars, chicken nuggets, ready meals, processed cheese, fizzy drinks, flavoured yoghurts, crisps, biscuits, chocolate, mass-produced pastries and reconstituted meat products.
Government-funded studies show British teenagers get almost two-thirds of their calories (66 per cent) from UPFs. Toddlers get nearly half, rising to almost 60 per cent by age seven.
More than half of all calories eaten by UK adults now come from ultra-processed foods.
The UK is one of the world’s highest consumers of UPFs
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PA
The Lancet Series warns that UPFs are designed to displace real food and to bypass the brain’s appetite system, encouraging overeating and overwhelming children’s developing biology.
Prof van Tulleken says the political and commercial strategy exposed in the new papers is startling.
“Ultra-processed food corporations have extraordinary power over consumers and governments, manufacturing doubt and confusion to prevent effective policies. Meanwhile, ultra-processed food is displacing whole and minimally processed foods,” Prof van Tulleken said.
“Ultra-processed foods are engineered to drive excess consumption, undermining the body’s ability to say ‘I’m full’.
“That’s how ultra-processed food companies make their money. You never leave the last few bites of these foods in the pack.”
Prof van Tulleken believes ultra-processed food companies use sophisticated science to make their products intensely appealing, extremely cheap and dangerously easy to over-consume.
He said: “They have a double jeopardy: each bite is typically high in calories, fat, salt and sugar. But additionally, because of all the processing – the flavours, the softness, the additives – you take lots of bites.”
He also argues it is the marketing, the packaging and the price point which cause us to eat so much.
“And the ultra-processed food industry knows this but deliberately markets these products to vulnerable people such as those on low incomes and children.”
The Lancet research series compares the industry’s tactics directly to the behaviour of “Big Tobacco”, using political lobbying, scientific spin, corporate influence and global marketing campaigns to block health regulation.
Prof van Tulleken says the scale of harm now rivals the biggest killers in history.
“I feel very passionate that we have now established that poor diet is the leading cause of early death on planet Earth. In terms of health effects and economic harms, it is now up there with tobacco.”
He warns the damage extends far beyond health. “The food system is the leading cause of plastic pollution, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity. The science is now clear – ultra-processed food is now harming human and planetary health.”
The Lancet Series, led by scientists from Brazil, Chile, Australia, the US and the UK, sets out sweeping global reforms.
They argue that trying to fix the problem through consumer “choice” is futile because food systems are now dominated by UPFs, and these products are engineered for over-consumption.
